Surgical string package



Sept. 12, 1944. s. B. BRADSHAW SURGICAL STRING PACKAGE Filed Oct. 12, 1940 Patented Sept. 12, 1944 SURGICAL STRING PACKAGE Sidney B. Bradshaw, Chicago, 111., assignmto Armour and Company, Chicago, 111., a corpora.-

tion of Illinois Application October 12, 1940, Serial No. 360,965

2 Claims.

This invention relates to a package for surgical strings or cords such as sutures, ligatures and the like and to a process for packaging surgical strings.

It is an object of this invention to produce a ligature or suture package from which the ligature or suture may be removed ready for use with a minimum of handling and, consequently, with minimal danger of infection or contamination with undesirable organisms. It is another object of this invention to provide a package in which the ligature or suture may be quickly and safely dehydrated and sterilized, either by the application of dryheat or in a liquid medium. It is another object of this invention to provide a package in which a coil of surgical string or cord is maintained in a flat, untwisted condition and is freely bathed by a holding solution, which holding solution may be suitable for either boilable or non-boilable surgical strings.

In the preparation of sutures and ligatures as known to the art, string material is dried and sterilized and stored in containers under conditions intended to maintain sterility and keep the string pliable. A variety of such containers and packages have been devised in efforts to furnish the surgeon with a surgical string or cord which is sterile, pliable and easily handled. It has been proposed, for example, to place a coil of suture or ligature in a flexible envelope and to store this package in a germicidal fluid. It has also been known to wind the suture or ligature on a flat fiber and, after sterilizing in a holding tube, to add a suitable storing fluid and hold in the sealed tube.

It is essential that surgical string material be sterile at the time of use in or about a wound and it is necessary, therefore, that the string material be sterilized either at the time of manufacture or, as with boilable strin s, by sterilizing just prior to use. It is also desirable that after such sterilization the string undergo a minimum amount of handling to avoid contamination before insertion into the wound.

It has been found that difflculties are encountered in unreeling a surgical cord from around a flat reel and in untwisting one which has been simply coiled and held in a fluid in a holding tube. It has also been found that the flexible packages heretofore used do not withstand well the conditions necessary to insure sterilization which include the application of temperatures of at least 320- F. for an hour or longer and the cords must be sterilized before being placed in these packages, necessitating extra handling.

coil of surgical string. The reel is conveniently made of glass although plastics and other materials which are capable of withstanding sterilizing conditions and which are rigid and which are unaffected by the storing liquids are also usable. A descriptive legend may be printed directly on the reel with ink or other material unaffected by sterilizing conditions, or it may be etched on the reel.

In packaging sutures or ligatures according to my invention, the suture or ligature may be placed within the rigid, flattened reel and dehydrated prior to sterilizationmore quickly and efficiently than in the usual practice. Another advantage-of the feature of packaging surgical strings by placing the coil of string within the rigid reel is that, as the string material expands in contact with the storing fluid the elastic coil which it forms will be prevented from pressing against the wall of the holding tube making it difllcult to dislodge. I

Still other objects and advantages will become apparent after the following detailed description.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 shows a longitudinal sectional view of one embodiment of the assembled surgical string package; Figure 2 shows a transverse sectional view, the section being taken at line 2 of Figure 1. Figure 3 is view of the reel containing a coil of string.

Referring to the drawing in detail, I0 is a holding tube of glass which is hermetically sealed when ready for storage or sale, that is, after the sterilizing and filling operations in the case of non-boilable strings; II is the rigid, non-hygroscopicreel of flattened cross-section, preferably a glass tube open at both ends; I2 is the surgical string, coiled for insertion into the reel; and I3 is the storing fluid of any desired type.

The reel ll being of flattened cross-section, maintains the coil of suture or ligature in a flat, untwistcd condition. As shown in Figure 3, the reel may, also bear a descriptive legend. This is advantageous in that it avoids the use of a label such as has been heretofore placed within the tube to identify the type of surgical string packaged. The usual labels are of paper' or other hygroscopic fibrous material and, in the case of non-boilable sutures, alter the composition of the storing fluid, such storing fluid containing a small amount of moisture to restore and maintain the pliability of the surgical string material. Such alteration of the storing fluid by absorption of moisture therefrom is avoided by the use of my non-hygroscopic reel. By placing the surgical string within the reel, the legend stamped upon the reel is easily visible to the user. I have found it advantageous to form the reel so that its length is greater than its longer cross-sectional dimension.

The. storing fluid I3 is of any desired type. For

example, in the case oi non-boilable surgical strings it may consist of alcohol and water, and in the case of boilable sutures, the storing fluid may be xylene or toluene.

In preparing my surgical string package, string material of the desired length and diameter is coiled and inserted into the rigid flattened reel. It is then dehydrated and sterilized. This may be done by the application of dry heat, in which case the reel containing the surgical cord is sub- Jected to drying by the action of air, for example, either heated or dried air. The reel structure permits free circulation of the drying air through and about the coiled cord and the cord is dehydrated very rapidly. The reel and surgical cord are then held at sterilizing temperature for at least one hour. At the end of this time the sterilized reel and cord may beplaced ina sterile holding tube and covered.with a sterile holding solution under aseptic conditions. In case of a non-boilable surgical string, the holding solution may consist, for example, of alcohol and about 2% to 5% of sterile water and, if desired, a small amount of a germicide such as potassium mercuric iodide. Alternatively, the surgical string, inserted in the reel, may be dried in the holding tube, a sterilizing liquid such as toluene or xylene added and sterilization carried out as shown in Bradshaw, U. S. 2,197,717. After sterilization, sterile holding solution is added as described above. After the holding solution has been added the holding tube is sealed off and the package is ready for storage or sale.

In case of a boilable surgical string, the reel and string are dehydrated and placed in the holding tube, storing fluid is added and the tube is sealed oil. and sterilized. The package may be sterilized again prior to use by the surgeon. The reel and string may, of course, be dried in the tube, storing liquid then added and the tube sealed oil. The storing fluid may be xylene, toluene, cumol or any of the tubing or storing fluids ordinarily used with boilable surgical strings.

a,ssv,oso I Although one embodiment of my surgical string from a flat sheet. The foregoing detailed description has been package is shown it will be understood that the advantages of this invention may also be obtained in other packages in which individual coils of surgical string are stored.

When the'package is opened for use. by the surgeon the outer tube is broken, the fluid poured out and, when the portion of the holding tube containing the reel and string is inverted, the reel containing the ligature slides out very easily because, as stated above, the slightly expanded string will have no frictional contact with the walls 01- the holding tube. The coil of string is then easily grasped and removed from thereel in one operation and the coil opens up treelyxand easily for use by the surgeon. The simplification in the operation of removing the surgical string from its sterile package which is accomplished by my package ensures maintenance oi sterility between the time the surgical string leaves its sterilized environment and the time of its actual insertion into a wound. My package avoids the necessity of much handling to untwist the string or to unfasten and unwind it from a reel formed given for clearness oi understanding only and no unnecessary limitations are to be understood therefrom. [By the term surgical string, I intend to include surgical cords such as sutures and ligatures and the like.

, Having now described my invention, what I wish to claim is: 1. A surgical string package comprising a hermetically sealed tube, storing fluid within said tube, a rigid holder of flattened cross section in said tube, said holder being open at both ends so that its interior is freely bathed by said storing fluid, and a flat coil of surgical string material disposed within said-holder and extending longitudinally thereoi and having at least one end extending longitudinally beyond an end of said holder, said coil comprising a plurality of closed loops in a single strand of string material, the plane of said loops being parallel with said flattened cross section, said coil being disposed within said holder throughout the length 01' the holder and having its edges bearing elastically against the edges of said holder, said holder being free of internal obstructions so as to permit the coil to be pulled endwise out oi the holder.

2. A package as set forth in claim 1 in which said holder is longer than said longer dimension of its cross section.

SIDNEY B. BRADSHAW.

CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION.

Patent No. 2,557,996, September 12, "19m.

smmz js. BRADSHAW.

It is herein; certified that error appears in the printed specification of the above numbered patent requiring correction as follows: Page 1, first column, line 55, after the word fiber insert --ree1--; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same may conform to therecord of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 16th day of January, A. D. 1915.

Leslie Frazer (Seal) Acting Commissioner of Patents. 

